Jewish Community Foundation

50 Years of Helping Donors Achieve Their Philanthropic Goals.

For the last 50 years, the Jewish Community Foundation (JCF) of San Diego has been a major philanthropic resource helping to match the philanthropic passions of donors with a wide range of grantee recipients in their community and around the world.

“Our goal is to enable our donors to leverage their philanthropic assets to have the greatest impact on the causes they care about,” JCF President and CEO Beth Sirull shared with Giving Back Magazine. “We facilitate donor giving to a vast array of grantee recipients in San Diego, the United States and abroad.” She noted that schools, hospitals, the arts, social services and a multitude of other charities have benefitted from donors advised by the JCF. “JCF facilitates grant making typically in excess of $110 million per year on behalf of our donors,” added Sirull, who joined the Foundation in March. “And most of those funds (70 percent) stay in our community.”

In fact, the Foundation distributes the largest number of grant dollars annually in San Diego and has aided generations of donors in awarding more than $1 billion in charitable contributions since its 1967 launch. Foundation donors distribute grants to both Jewish and secular organizations, with the majority – roughly 70% – going to secular organizations. “Over the years, these contributions have made an enormous impact on so many lives,” said Sirull. “We are proud and honored to have played a supportive role in facilitating the generosity and good works of our donors for the last 50 years. We look forward with excitement to the opportunities and innovations of the next 50 years.”

The Jewish Community Foundation, a nonprofit philanthropic service provider, helps donors in numerous ways, ranging from researching causes to advising on gift structuring. “We want our donors to feel like they have a true partner helping them fulfill their philanthropic dreams,” said Sharleen Wollach, the Foundation’s Vice President of Operations.

While the organization serves donors from all walks of life, JCF proudly operates on Jewish faith-based values of “making the world a better place,” said Sirull. “Our mission is to grow the impact of philanthropy in this region and around the world,” she said. “We really live that every day in that we provide truly personalized services and are constantly innovating to help our donors be more impactful.”

JCF is proud of its efforts. Over the last 50 years, it has assisted donors in awarding over $1 billion in over 60,000 grants to more than 5,000 nonprofits in San Diego, Israel and around the world.